Here are seven recent contract agreements or conflicts between payers, providers and employers:
1. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming signed in-network agreements with ground and air ambulance companies.
2. The American Hospital Association urged CMS to review new policy changes from UnitedHealthcare for diagnostic and specialty pharmacy services that the insurer says are needed to lower medical costs.
3. Phoenix-based Banner Health and Aetna agreed to a long-term extension of their joint venture partnership.
4. A contract impasse between UnitedHealthcare and Providence Anesthesiology Associates left one patient in North Carolina with a more than $15,000 surprise medical bill.
5. In 2019, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association launched its high-performance network, dubbed Blue HPN. To date, 45 employers have chosen to offer Blue HPN as a network option for their employees.
6. A new in-network agreement between Unified Women's Healthcare Texas, a chain of more than 60 OB-GYN practices across the state, and BlueCross BlueShield of Texas was inked.
7. OptumCare, the part of UnitedHealth Group that provides direct patient care, plans on adding thousands of physicians in the next year.